1. Field of the Invention
This invention is a sink insert that relates to the field of cleaning reusable medical/surgical devices, in particular cleaning devices for soaking and flushing tubular items such as endoscopes.
Current facilities and devices for such cleaning tasks have problems arising from the lack of ease of use and convenience, variability in the effectiveness of the cleansing process, waste of expensive additives and supplies, and/or ergonomic problems for the technician cleaning the devices. Historically, the lumens of tubular medical surgical devices have been cleaned by flushing them with treated water using a syringe. The typical method uses water treated with liquid additives or granulated or powdered solid additives, such as various chemicals, solvents, detergents or antibacterial agents needed to properly clean the device. The syringe method entails a laborious process of mixing the additives with the water in a separate container to yield the desired cleaning liquid containing the correct concentration of additives, and then filling the syringe with this cleaning liquid numerous times as well as flushing the syringe numerous times. Among the challenges associated with this process are the various size syringes available to the technician which can be as small as 10 cc-90 cc. Many device manufacturers have pre-cleaning requirements that call for copiously flushing the lumen of the device. Copious flushing with a small syringe is labor intensive and physically challenging, involving time consuming repetitive motion, and possible waste of expensive additives.
This sort of syringe flushing task is often performed in a deep laboratory sink. Deep sinks are often the enemy of the technician because of intensive bending needed to reach the sink bottom. Sinks in medical or hospital facilities are often designed to be large and deep so that they can accommodate the largest items intended to be cleaned in them. However, smaller items also must be cleaned in that sink, resulting in the need for the technician to bend over, causing backaches, fatigue, and ergonomic problems. Deep sink platforms do not allow the technician to have the surface of the cleaning liquid at the optimal working height unless there is tremendous amount of cleaning liquid in the sink, and the bottom working surface of such a sink is often too low to provide an optimal working height.
In the field of cleaning medical/surgical devices, the concentration of an additive in the cleaning liquid is very important to the proper cleaning of the device. Historically methods used to dilute hospital grade chemicals in open sinks have been done via educated guess. Sinks are not marked with measuring lines and chemicals used have to be diluted properly to be effective. Medical technicians are left to improvise either by estimating, painting lines, etching lines or fastening stickers that indicate line volume in the sink basin. Though there are many ways to measure chemicals, the most common are with manual pumps that may be provided by the manufacturer of the additive or affixed to its container, or with automated proportioning systems that attach to a sink faucet. While these options are available they are have problems in that, often, manual pumps are ordered separately and automated pumps are not reliable. Many technicians resort to the expedient of simply dumping the additives into the water, with the attendant risks of under- or over-diluting the additives. Measuring cups are often poorly calibrated or subject to user error in over- or under-filling. Use of measuring cups yields its own problems in that the technician has yet another separate item that he must keep track of and must properly clean out after using.
There are many risks associated with under- or over-diluting the additives. Some chemicals used in certain clinical and scientific settings are expensive and caustic. Residue builds up on devices, which can compromise effective clinical and scientific outcomes. Devices with residue often have to be sent out for repair, because the residue could permanently affix during the next stage of processing such as decontamination or sterilization. Ineffective cleansing can occur if an inadequate amount of a chemical is dispensed for a cleaning task. Proper dilution of additives used in a cleaning task is very important to efficient, economical cleaning and good cleaning results.